Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow raises money for truck

CU students, gym offer help to group that sets up warming shelters

There is no guarantee for a safe and warm sleeping spot for members of the homeless community in Boulder.

There is the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, which serves up to 160 people every night, but there's often not enough space. And as freezing temperatures creep alongside winter's wind, finding a warm sleeping spot is less luxury and more necessity.

That's where Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow steps in.

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"We keep people safe and warm when they need a place to sleep," said Anne Doyle, chairwoman of BoHo's board of directors. "Most of the people we serve in BoHo are residents of Boulder. They just don't have a proper home right now."

On Friday, the organization began a three-day fundraising effort for the purchase of a moving truck that will help volunteers store and transport all necessary materials and supplies to keep BoHo's warming centers running.

The non-profit organization sets up these centers in Boulder at different locations. On Sundays, it's at Cornerstone Church. Mondays it's at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, and so on. Each location is a faith-based organization that provides BoHo with a safe environment.

The organization's primary goal is keeping people from losing their lives to freezing temperatures. Last year, the organization opened warming centers on 153 nights, and Doyle said about 600 people were assisted. She said the average number of occupants is 73 people per night -- a 65 percent increase compared to last winter.

"BoHo fills the gap in the community for social services that are not delivered anywhere else," Doyle said. "We consider ourselves a safety net to the safety net."

The organization is attempting to raise $4,500 to purchase the moving truck and the group is getting some help from Mountain's Edge Fitness Center. The fitness club is sponsoring a fundraiser that will allow people to exercise there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for free while raising money for BoHo. Participants will ask others to sponsor their workouts and all proceeds will benefit BoHo.

Grace Porritt, marketing director at Mountain's Edge, said the fitness club helped BoHo last year by collecting canned food. The idea for this year's event came from a club member who is also a member of the BoHo board of directors. In addition to providing their facilities, the club is also sponsoring a clothing drive.

Also helping BoHo's fundraising efforts are a group of engineering students from the University of Colorado who are working on a class project.

The group of five students was responsible for designing a metal cabinet that will house blankets and other supplies inside the truck as part of an engineering class.

"We think it's terrific for the CU students to be working with BoHo," Doyle said. "They have done a great job in designing the cabinets. They have worked really hard."

Pia Dechamps, a freshman open-option engineering major who worked on the project, said her group chose BoHo out of selection pool of several Boulder community organizations.

"I loved the idea," Dechamps said about the project. "It's definitely, just from an engineering standpoint, taught me about design."

The project is going to be graded, but Dechamps thinks her group's concerns have shifted focus.

"Everyone in my class has become really attached to the cause that they are working for," Dechamps said. "I think for this one, no one is going to be going for an A. I think they are trying to get the best project possible."

CU students Connor Savage, top left, Robert Miles, and Pia Dechamps, crouched below, paint designs on one of the cabinets that the students designed to fit into a moving truck for Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow. The cabinets will be used to help transport blankets and other supplies between warming centers. BoHo launched a three-day fundraising campaign on Friday to raise money to buy the truck the cabinets will go into.
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
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